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Topic: Wind power or solar anyone? (Read 58106 times)

Most of this stuff is way over my head. I like it though, and would love to learn more.

Cash is thinner now than it ever has been for me, so buying in isn't an option. However, learning what I need to do when I do have more cash is helpful. I particularly like the idea of spending low amounts in the beginning, then building on the system over time. It's a whole lot easier to pay $2,000 a year for add ons than it is to pay $20,000 up front for the whole system.

i believe that a combination of wind and solar is the best , you can make one with the car alternator, but i dont think you can get you best output that way, i have seen ceiling fans used as well as just box fans , again not much out put.

the only problem i see with this set up is if the grid goes down for what ever reason, you have to do something with the power being made. I am sure you can see this being a problem during a bad storm, while this will be putting out some serious power.

although you can short out the three phases and that will work as a brake, but will not stop the wind mill from spinning.

Well I am finally up and running with wind and solar energy. The system I bought does 4.2kwh with an average of 600 kwh a month. Im hoping to increase the monthly out put to 900. I have a hybrid system and battery banks. Here are a few photos.

Im still missing two solar panels because my guy making my frame to set them in broke one. The solar panels are parralled so that is why one is still covered up.

.....The greatest changes occur in their country without their cooperation. They are not even aware of precisely what has taken place. They suspect it; they have heard of the event by chance. More than that, they are unconcerned with the fortunes of their village, the safety of their streets, the fate of their church and its vestry. They think that such things have nothing to do with them, that they belong to a powerful stranger called “the government.” They enjoy these goods as tenants, without a sense of ownership, and never give a thought to how they might be improved.....

These people have kits for just what you are doing. I thought about doing one myself and found that the alternator needs a fair amount of wind to start producing good power. This company has the correct stuff to make it start to output at lower speeds and they also have a nice solar/wind power interface to make it simple for the average home owner to be able to hook it up.

I got my stuff from Windenergy7. I also became a dealer for the company. I caught my system on sale for 14,900. It came with 3 turbines, 6 panels, inverter, charge controlers, and mounting brackets. Im pushing 4.2 kwh so I should be able to run my house for 7 to 8 months a year without touching grid energy. The other months I should only be paying very little, due to ac running.

OK I run my shop off mostly wind and sun. I built my wind gens myself. Now for the short story of it.

With no extra money I was told by my power company that it would cost 5000.00 to run power to my shop 1000 feet behind my home across a mostly dry creek bed. so I started looking for alternatives. I started to build a hub gen and it became cost prohibitive. next I was looking around and I found that the newer AC fan motors for the inside unit of high end AC units were using ECM motors. these motors are a basic permanet magnetic motor. so I found that by removing the electronic pack all I had to do was cut the winding leads to each of the series of the three phase and run leads out. then attach each phase to a full wave rectifying diode to change from AC to DC then run into a charge controller then into a battery bank. I also tie in my solar panels into the same controller. then I purchased a inverter to run all my lights and power tools. Except my large table saw. with this system I have enough power to run the shop for a full day. I get the ECM motors from AC suppliers. They tough the bad ones away. the only thing wrong with then is the electronic pack which I don't use. so that's free. the battery bank is old cores I get from a battery wholesaler. I get them cheap. they still have life in them and last 3-5 years each. cost only 15 -25.00 each . new they cost 175,00 to 225.00 each. mostly golf cart batteries are the best. the inverter cost 129.00 with coupon from HF. My total I have in my system is 500.00 I made my blades and hub. out of wood then aluminum. Here are a few picks of them.

... Can you provide a lead on these sites? I'm interested in this but am a

total novice. I've tried to search in the past but keep ending up on sites that want to charge a fee for the information.

If you can afford the 262 foot (80) meter tower, here is the US government’s wind speed / reliability map. http://www.windpoweringamerica.gov/windmaps/community_scale.aspNotice that only about 10% of the land east of the Mississippi River is suited for commercial wind powered electrical generation. Even large parts of the West are unsuitable for commercial wind generated electricity. Also notice that running up from the Appalachian mountains all the way to the Canadian border there are few if any places with enough wind to support commercial wind power generation. In those places that do afford enough wind to support commercial generation these places are invariably on a ridge or mountain top, like the Blue Ridge, the Smoky Mountains or on top of Mount Washington. Also notice that the generating potential falls off rapidly the further down hill you go. The generating potential also falls off rapidly on the prevailing down wind side of the ridges. Valleys are a non starter when it comes to wind power.

If you can’t afford the 262 foot tower here is a link to community or local scale power generation. The good news is that you only need a 162 foot tower to qualify for a loan for a community scale generator.http://www.windpoweringamerica.gov/windmaps/community_scale.aspI think that the states in green are participating in a Community Scale Wind Generation Program. Also if you decide to build a community scale electrical generation plant, I doubt that you will need to construct your own high tension transmission power lines any further that the nearest local sub-station.

To help make it easy, only areas with a sustained wind speed of 6.5 meters per second or greater are considered suitable for utility grade (commercial) electric generation.

Need a little help. I had once saw the feds had a regulation stating permits for renewable energy were limited to $150.00 max. I just got my bill for the install and they are charging me $220.00 for the permit. Anyone know where I can find the regulation again? I searched Google but not finding it.

i've been living on a generator and batteries since i moved to alaska. i keep lookinng at solar panels but haven't had the money. as far as wind find some place that has a wind gen going and listen to it for a while, all of em i"ve seen are pretty niosy. when i get a claim going up here i plan to get a hydro system. quiet, if your source stream runs year around you have power year around.

Mine is quiet, from inside the house. Outside, When the wind is 20mph or higher the turbines sound like an oslating fan. Because of codes I had to set up an isolation box so the power company can isolate me from the grid if they need to. I need to figure out how to set up my green power as the main source and the grid as backup. I think the only way to do it is with an auto transfer switch which is about $2,000.0.

We recently had a microburst come through and knocked over trees and power poles throughout the town. The wind turbines did great standing up to the winds. While the town was without power I still powered my house except for 220 loads for 6 hours until power came back up.

Fellow beeks, you’ve got some pretty impressive setups. I’ve been toying with the idea of skipping the battery, the inverter, and the electronics and just using a windmill or two for supplement heat in the winter. Heating elements don’t care if they’re fed DC. Anybody direct connecting a windmill to a heating element? Seems like a cheap way to make a few thousand watts of heat.

someone i do mechanic work for was telling me there is a system that will convert heat to 12v the way sunlight does in a pv system, i'm looking into it. man what would that do if i hooked it up to the chimney on my woodstove!

i thought i'd give an update the woodstove thing is called a seebeck effect thermal electric generator and all the sites that sell em are afraid to put the price up. a neighbor loaned me the solar panel that was hanging in his dad's garage, havent seen the sun since, (old tech panel only works in strong light). but should help knock some of the fuel cost from the gen set. but this winter is looking more comfortable than last, got several cords of wood up already and should be able to get more soon as the ground freezes. stillo researching that t.e.g.

I know this is an old thread but I was wondering about how you made blades out of aluminum. I had made a vertical 3 blade rotor (kind of an eggbeater) with wooden blades a few years back. That thing spun itself absolootley silly (no load) for years til it finally self destructed during a storm. I loved it! The bonus was that it was safe at ground level and uni directional. I have been wondering ever since if I could smelt aluminum blades using popcans but think the temps needed are probably too high. Can you elaborate on your process for manufacture of aluminum blades svp?ThanksDennis

I know this is an old thread but I was wondering about how you made blades out of aluminum. I had made a vertical 3 blade rotor (kind of an eggbeater) with wooden blades a few years back. That thing spun itself absolootley silly (no load) for years til it finally self destructed during a storm. I loved it! The bonus was that it was safe at ground level and uni directional. I have been wondering ever since if I could smelt aluminum blades using popcans but think the temps needed are probably too high. Can you elaborate on your process for manufacture of aluminum blades svp?ThanksDennis

The process I used was I purchased aluminum stock 3/8 sheet then I cut out my blades to the desired length and dimension then used the heat knelling process to form them into the shape that I was looking for. their is some trial and error to it. heat knelling is using a torch that is low temp and suet the areas that you want to form. by heating it the molecular position of molecules in loosen to make the sheet easier to form. just be careful with the heat and where you heat because you are basically weakening the metal. form and heat along the trailing edge so you keep the straight along the leading edge. so they won't deform when turning.

Thanks for the advice. I'll let all that sit in my noggin and maybe while I'm asleep it'll turn into something I can use! I do have a little sheet aluminum that I've been hoarding .... maybe in the spring I'll put some heat to it and watch what happens.Thanks again, much appreciated!

Just finished an install. The customer has a similar system to mine but he has 18, 245 watt solar panels, and three wind turbines. he can run his office and barn lights completly off grid during the day but needs more batteries for night use to stay away from grid. I would post a photo but Im not too fond of Imageshack anymore.